The Lost Art of the Bookplate

Older books have certain qualities that endear me to them in a way that can't really be recreated in the modern world of book publishing. Namely the carefully hand-stamped leather covers, covers meant to last. But there is a feature that seems to exist only in older books that I can't understand how it doesn't translate over to the contemporary: bookplates. A bookplate is a stamp or sticker with the name of the owner printed on it, often with decorative detail. If you are going to build a library, better to have a fanciful way to claim your books, though sometimes a simple scawl across the title page sufficed.

Photos and examples after the jump...